Page 62 of The Doll and The Domination

I’m on that fucking beach.

My toes sink into the sand.

My arms prickle with goose bumps against the briny ocean breeze.

“No!” I scream.

I can’t go back to this day. I won’t.

The beach erupts in a battle of clashing swords and the grunting of grown men. I can’t escape what appears right in front of me, Dessin holding those two babies. Locking eyes with me.

“Dessin, behind you!” I bellow. Not again. This can’t happen again!

The tip of the sickle rips through his flesh, breaking the bone in his chest. Once silver, now glossy with blood. I howl at the sight.

And it happens all over again. He crashes to his knees. I fall to him, bracing his full weight in my arms. I can’t rid the burning scent of coppery blood and sea salt from my nostrils.

This show of utter horror can’t get any worse. I just have to survive what I’ve already done once before. He’s mine, God! Please, don’t take him away from me!

“Let me help!” Ruth begs, rushing to my side.

This isn’t right. This isn’t how it happened.

She drops to a knee in front of me, pressing her small hands to Dessin’s wound to help stop the bleeding. Those soft brown eyes peer up at me, shining with fresh tears.

“Ruth, no!” Warrose roars from several yards away.

Her head slides off her body, thumping to the sand as her frame sways for a moment.

“Oh god!” I screech. “Ruth!”

Thick ropes of blood spew from her gaping neck. And then she simply falls forward, landing on my leg. Her head is facing me. Eyes open. Mouth parted.

My Ruth.

My soul sister.

Gone, without a moment to say goodbye.

In a frenzy, I try to gather her head in my hands, and try to piece her back together. I wail as the tears spring from my eyes. Not dead. Not dead. Not dead.

Dessin chokes and gargles on his own blood in my lap.

“Somebody help us!” I blubber, holding them to me the best I can.

“Skylenna!” Niles shouts from behind me. “We have to get him out!”

No. Not Niles.

I turn in time to see the fire consume every inch of his skin. His screams pierce my ears, surging through my body until his pain is my own. But he doesn’t put the fire out. The flames grow bigger, higher, sending smoke signals to the clouds.

And DaiSzek is caught between the burning stakes, he’s

“Can you see me now?” A voice made of iron, silk, and old wisdom breaks through the storm of my trepidation. I look up through my tears, searching through the battle raging on before me.

“Focus, Skylenna,” she purrs.

I blink the tears away, squinting to see past the blood.

---